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Travolta, the youngest of six children,[4] was born[1] and raised in Englewood, New Jersey, an inner-ring suburb of Bergen County, New Jersey. His father, Salvatore Travolta (November 1912 – May 1995),[5] was a semi-professional American football player[citation needed] turned tire salesman and partner in a tire company.[1] His mother, Helen Cecilia (née Burke; January 18, 1912 – December 1978),[5] was an actress and singer who had appeared in The Sunshine Sisters, a radio vocal group, and acted and directed before becoming a high school drama and English teacher.[6] His siblings, Joey, Ellen, Ann, Margaret, and Sam Travolta, inspired by their mother's love of theatre and drama, have all acted.[6] His father was a second-generation Italian American (with roots in Godrano, Sicily) and his mother was Irish American;[7][8] he grew up in an Irish-American neighborhood and has said that his household was predominantly Irish in culture.[9][10] He was raised Roman Catholic, but converted to Scientology in 1975.[8][11] Travolta attended Dwight Morrow High School, but dropped out as a junior at age 17 in 1971.[12]

After Urban Cowboy, Travolta starred in a series of commercial and critical failures that sidelined his acting career. These included Two of a Kind (1983), a romantic comedy reteaming him with Olivia Newton-John, and Perfect (1985), co-starring Jamie Lee Curtis. He also starred in Staying Alive, the 1983 sequel to Saturday Night Fever, for which he trained rigorously and lost 20 pounds;[27] the film was a financial success, grossing over $65 million, though it too was scorned by critics.

In 2000, Travolta starred in and co-produced the science fiction film Battlefield Earth, based on the novel of the same name by L. Ron Hubbard, in which he played the leader of a group of aliens that enslaves humanity on a bleak future Earth. The film had been a dream project for Travolta since the book's release in 1982, when Hubbard had personally written him to try to help make a film adaptation.[32] The film received almost universally negative reviews and did very poorly at the box office.[33] Travolta's performance in Battlefield Earth also earned him two Razzie Awards.

Travolta married actress Kelly Preston in 1991, and bought a house in Islesboro, Maine.[36] The couple had a son, Jett (died in 2009). Their daughter, Ella Bleu, was born in 2000 and a third child, a son, was born in 2010 in Florida.[37] Travolta and Preston have regularly attended marriage counseling; Travolta has stated that therapy has helped the marriage.[38]

In May 1991, Time magazine published a cover story titled "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power". In the article, former Church of Scientology executive director William Franks alleged that Travolta was wary of leaving the faith because he feared the Church would publish detailed revelations of his private life, to include homosexual behavior.[39] These claims were reiterated by Franks and other Scientology defectors in Lawrence Wright's 2013 book Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, and former Church official Marty Rathbun claimed that he worked with Travolta's attorneys several times to keep allegations about Travolta's homosexuality out of the press and resolve lawsuits against the star.[40][41]

Travolta endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up for the 2016 U.S. presidential election.[42]

In 2009, Travolta's son, Jett, died at age 16 while on a Christmas vacation in the Bahamas.[43][44] A Bahamian death certificate was issued, attributing the cause of death to a seizure.[45] Jett, who had a history of seizures, reportedly suffered from Kawasaki disease at the age of two.[46][47] Travolta confirmed speculation that his son had autism and suffered regular seizures and immediately made his public statements while giving testimony after a multimillion-dollar extortion plot against him in connection to his son's death.[48] After a mistrial, Travolta dropped the charges and has credited his immediate family and Scientology with helping him survive the death of his son and in moving forward with his film career.[49][50][51] In memory of his son, Travolta created the Jett Travolta Foundation, a non-profit organization to help children with special needs.[52] It has contributed to organizations such as the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center[53]

Travolta is a private pilot[56][57] and owns four aircraft. This excludes the ex-Qantas Boeing 707-138B (Ex-VH-EBM) that he owned. In 2017, the plane was donated to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) near Wollongong, Australia. Travolta has expressed interest in being among the crew to fly it to Illawarra Regional Airport, where HARS is based.[58] The plane will be repaired to ensure safe flying condition. The 707 aircraft bears an old livery of Qantas, and Travolta acted as an official goodwill ambassador for the airline wherever he flew.[59] Travolta named his 707 "Jett Clipper Ella", in honor of his children. The "Clipper" in the name represents that Pan Am used that word in the names of their aircraft.[60]

His $4.9 million estate in the Jumbolair subdivision in Ocala, Florida, is situated on Greystone Airport with its own runway and taxiway right to his house, with two outbuildings for covered access to planes.[56][61]

In 2008 Travolta demonstrated his stunt pilot skills and performed a flyover of the Disneyland resort in a British Spitfire plane for Miley Cyrus's 16th birthday. His plane dropped two smoke bombs; one black, one white, in representation of Mickey Mouse. He dropped these whilst also performing two Cuban eight maneuvers.

On September 13, 2010, during the first episode of the final season of her talk show, Oprah Winfrey announced that she would be taking her entire studio audience on an eight-day, all-expenses-paid trip to Australia, with Travolta serving as pilot for the trip. He had helped Winfrey plan the trip for more than a year.[64]

He is the author of the book Propeller One-Way Night Coach, the story of a young boy's first flight.[65]

Several men have accused Travolta of sexual assault. In May 2012, an anonymous masseur filed a lawsuit against Travolta citing claims of sexual assault and battery. A lawyer for Travolta said that the allegations were "complete fiction and fabrication" and someone wanting his 15 minutes of fame. Travolta's counsel also stated that his client would be able to prove that he was not in California on the day in question and asserted that Travolta would "sue the attorney and Plaintiff for malicious prosecution" after getting the case thrown out.[66] A second masseur later joined the lawsuit making similar claims.[67][68] Both lawsuits were subsequently dropped by the complainants and dismissed without prejudice.[69]

A judge ruled to dismiss a defamation lawsuit against Travolta and his attorney Marty Singer by writer Robert Randolph. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Malcolm Mackey dismissed the case on September 27, 2012, because he found that a letter, written by Singer in response to allegations in a book by Randolph, had free speech protection.[70]

In September 2014, Travolta denied claims made in January 2014 by his former pilot, Douglas Gotterba, that the two had shared a sexual relationship during the six-year period in which Gotterba worked for Travolta's aircraft company, Alto.[71]

In 2017, Travolta was named in a criminal complaint by a masseur who accused the actor of sexual battery that reportedly took place in 2000. The masseur was aged 21 at the time.[72]